Pouring spouts for liquid containers



April 12, 1955 c. RASMUSSEN 2,706,069

POURING SPOUTS FOR LIQUID CONTAINERS Filed Nov. 12. 1952- 2 Sheets-Sheet1 JNVENTOR.

ATTQR/VE) April 12, 1955 c, s uss 2,706,069 POURING SPOUTS FOR LIQUIDCONTAINERS Filed NOV. 12, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 :H I: Lm\\\\\\\\\\ TG---....--mm

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AWOK/VE) United States Patent POURING SPOUTS FOR LIQUID CONTAINERS CarlRasmussen, Bergen, Norway Application November 12, 1952, Serial No.319,945

Claims priority, application Norway November 12, 1951 Claims. (Cl.222-538)- The present invention relates to liquid containers and moreparticularly to pouring spouts for such containers.

Sheet metal containers of the type generally used for oil and otherliquids are commonly provided with a raised pouring neck to which it ISknown to attach a pouring spout to obtain better pouring facil ties.pouring necks often have outwardly extending annular lips or flanges attheir upper rims. When containers of this kind are delivered from thefactory filled w1th llqllld, they are usually sealed by a sheet metalseal over the pouring opening, a circumferential portion of such sealbeing crimped or folded around and under the lip or flange which isprovided 'at the top of the neck for holding the seal in place. When itis desired to pour the liquld from the container, the seal is broken,and the pouring spout attached to the pouring neck. Such pouring spoutmust be sent, together with the container, be ng attached to thecontainer with a temporary connect1on, for example a wire or string. Itwill be understood, however, that in such cases the pouring neck mayeasily become lost during shipment. It has also been proposed to providethe pouring neck with a permanently attached pouring spout. In practice,however, it has not been found possible to seal the neck of thecontainer in the manner described above because, with the pouring spoutpermanently attached to the neck, the sealing tool does not havesuflicient room to operate in applying the seal. Such containers musttherefore be sealed in other ways which are less advantageous.

It is an object of the present invention to prov de an improved pouringspout so that the pourmg opening of the raised pouring neck may besealed by means of a sheet metal seal crimped or folded over and aroundthe top rim of the neck. In accordance with the invention, this isachieved by mounting the pouring spout on a collar which issubstantially shorter than the neck of the container so as to be movablebetween a lower, or inoperative, position adjacent the top of thecontainer and a raised, or operative, position adjacent the top of theneck. When the collar is in its inoperative position, the neck may besealed in the above mentioned manner for shipment or storage. After suchseal has been removed by the consumer, the collar carrying the pouringspout may be lifted to its operative pouring position and held in placeon the pouring neck by the friction between the collar and the neck.Preferably, the pouring neck is made slightly conical with the wallsdiverging upwardly. By making the collar also conical, it will be heldsecurely in its operative position simply by the friction between thecollar and the neck and the resiliency of the sheet metals of which theneck and collar are formed.

A further characteristic feature of the invention is that the collarcarrying the pouring spout is provided in its upper portion with anannular groove the cross section of which corresponds with the crosssection of an outwardly projecting lip or flange provided at the top ofthe neck. When the collar is in its raised position, the rim of the neckseats in the annular groove so that the pouring spout is positionedsubstantially even with the top of the rim.

The nature and advantages of the invention will be more fully understoodfrom the following description and claims in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the top of a sheet metal Such.

container with a pouring neck and a pouring spout in accordance with theinvention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the pouring neck and pouring spout,the former being sealed and the latter being in its inoperative positionfor shipment or storage.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the pouring neck and pouring spout,the seal being removed and the spout being in its operative position.

In the drawings, the reference numeral 1 indicates the top of a sheetmetal container of the type usually employed for liquids. The containeris provided with a rasied pouring neck 2. The pouring neck is slightlyconical, or tapered with its larger end up, and is soldered or otherwisepermanently secured to the top 1 of the container. The walls of thepouring neck thus diverge in an upward direction. At the top of theneck, there is provided an outwardly projecting annular rim or flange 3which is shown as a rolled edge. In the pouring opening, there isinserted a plug 4 as a temporary closure. The plug is shown as beingformed of sheet metal and has an inturned rolled edge, frusto-conicalside walls and a flat bottom. The pouring opening is sealed by a sheetmetal seal 5 which is crimped or folded around and under the rim or lip3 and removably covers the pouring opening of the neck 2, as shown inFigs. 1 and 2 of the drawings.

Around the pouring neck 2, there is provided a pouring member comprisinga collar 6 and an outwardly extending pouring spout 8. The upper part ofthe collar is formed with an annular groove or recess 7 the crosssection of which corresponds with the cross section of the annularflange or lip 3 of the neck. The collar 6 is slightly tapered or conicaland its height is substantially less than the height of the neck, forexample about half the height of the neck. The pouring spout 8 issubstantially U-form or trough shaped in cross section and extendsoutwardly from the groove 7. It will be understood that the exact shapeof the pouring spout member 6, 7, 8 may be modified and that this memberis not limited to the specific shape shown by way of example in thedrawing. The spout member is preferably stamped from sheet metal in asingle piece and is placed around the pouring neck before the same issoldered or otherwise permanently secured to the container.

In Figs. 1 and 2, the pouring spout member is shown in its lower, orinoperative, position. In this position, there is enough room above thepouring spout member for the sealing tool to obtain a good grip aroundand under the annular lip or flange 3 during the sealing operationwithout being impeded by the pouring spout member. The pouring spoutmember remains in its inoperative position during storage and shipmentof the filled container.

After the seal 5 and the temporary cap closure 4 have been removed bythe consumer, the pouring spout member is raised to its operativeposition, shown in Fig. 3, whereby the collar surrounds the upperportion of the neck and the annular rim 3 of the neck seats in theannular groove 7 of the pouring spout member. The diameter of the collar6 is such that, when the pouring spout member is in its raised position,the collar fits tightly on the neck so as to provide a fluid-tight jointand to hold the pouring spout member in place by the resiliency of thesheet metal parts and the friction between them. There is hence no needof other locking means for retaining the pouring spout member in itspouring, or operative, position. The closure 4 may be reinserted in theneck to close the container, for example after part of the liquid hasbeen poured out. The pouring member may be kept in its pouring positionor, if desired, it can be returned to its inoperative position aftereach pouring operation.

In some instances, the annular groove '7 may be dis pensed with and thepouring spout 8 extend directly out from the collar 6. This embodimentis, particularly but not exclusively, useful when the pouring neckeither has no outwardly extending annular lip or flange 3 or only verynarrow flange. The pouring member will neverthelcss be held securely inits operative position around the top of the pouring neck. It will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that still other modificationsmay be made within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a container having a top and a neck projecting up from said top,said neck being tapered with its larger end up and having an annularoutwardly projecting lip at its upper end, a seal closing said neck andhaving its peripheral portion crimped over said lip to secure the sealin place, and a pouring member comprising a collar surrounding said neckand an outwardly projecting pouring spout, said collar having asubstantially smaller axial length than said neck so as to be movableaxially on said neck between a lower and an upper position and being ofa diameter to fit tightly on the neck when the collar is in its upperposition and the seal has been removed so as to be held firmly in placeby friction.

2. In a container having a top and a neck projecting up from said top,said neck being tapered with its larger end up and having an annularoutwardly projecting rim at its upper end, a closure member seatinginside the neck, a seal overlying the upper end of the neck and havingits peripheral portion crimped over said rim to secure the seal inplace, and a pouring member comprising a collar surrounding the neck anda pouring spout extending outwardly from the collar, said collar havinga substantially smaller axial length than the neck so as to be movableaxially on the neck between a lower and an upper position and being of adiameter to fit tightly on the neck when the collar is in its upperposition and the seal has been removed so as to be held tightly in placeby friction.

3. In a container having a top and a neck projecting up from the top,said neck being tapered with its larger end up and having an annularoutwardly projecting rim at its upper end, a seal overlying the upperend of the neck and having its peripheral portion crimped over said rimto secure the seal in place, and a pouring member comprising a collarsurrounding the neck and a pouring spout extending outwardly from thecollar, said collar being substantially shorter than said neck so as tobe movable on the neck between a lower and an upper position and beingof a diameter to fit tightly on the neck when the collar is in its upperposition and the seal is removed so as to be held firmly in place byfriction and said pouring member having in its upper portion an annulargroove the cross section of which corresponds to the cross section ofsaid rim so that the rim fits into said groove when the collar is in itsupper position.

4. In a container having a top and a neck projecting up from the top,said neck having an annular outwardly projecting rim at its upper end, aseal overlying the upper end of the neck and having a peripheralmarginal portion crimped over said rim to secure the seal in place, anda pouring member comprising a collar surrounding the neck and a pouringspout extending outwardly from the collar, said collar beingsubstantially shorter than the neck so as to be movable on the neckbetween a lower and an upper position and being of a diameter to fittightly on the neck when the collar is in its upper position and theseal is removed, and said pouring member having in its upper portion anannular groove the cross section of which corresponds to the crosssection of said rim so that the rim fits into said groove when thecollar is in its upper position.

5. In a container having a top and a neck projecting up from the top,said neck being tapered with the larger end up, a seal overlying andclosing the upper end of the neck, and a pouring member comprising atapered collar surrounding the neck and having its larger end up and apouring spout extending out from the collar, said collar beingsubstantially shorter than the neck and being movable axially on theneck from a lower position adjacent the top of the container and anupper position adjacent the upper end of the neck, the diameter of thecollar being such that the collar fits tightly on the neck when in itsupper position and the seal has been removed so as to be held firmly inplace by friction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,093,807 Emery et al Sept. 21, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS 33,521 France Nov.28, 1928

